DAK 'Encanto' and 'Indiana Jones'-themed experiences at Animal Kingdom

[JackCH]

It's honestly hard to be excited about even the stuff that sounds like it'll be good because of both the rumored downsizing and budget cuts and Iger's Disney repeatedly demonstrating their ability to screw up great ideas for attractions.

The long-awaited Little Mermaid dark ride? Turned out lousy. A Ratatouille ride? Turned out lousy. A Princess and the Frog ride? Turned out lousy. Even the very first dark ride starring Mickey Mouse wound up being the mediocre Crack Addict Goofy's Slow-Moving Train Ride.

Now instead of looking forward to stuff like the Door Coaster, I'm just thinking "Please be good. Please be good. Please be good..."

I'm trying to think what "era" of Disney had all these show-stopping attractions in consecutive order that you all seem to remember so fondly. Those attractions you listed are all good attractions to me except for TBA. And that's not even mentioning other attractions made in that time that I think are awesome.

And I get everything is subjective and so it's fine we disagree. But what era at WDW do you think was better? And what attractions were there?

 

[peter11435]

I'm trying to think what "era" of Disney had all these show-stopping attractions in consecutive order that you all seem to remember so fondly. Those attractions you listed are all good attractions to me except for TBA. And that's not even mentioning other attractions made in that time that I think are awesome.

And I get everything is subjective and so it's fine we disagree. But what era at WDW do you think was better? And what attractions were there?

People tend to forget all the mediocre attractions that were added in the 50’s-90’s because they aren’t here any more. Our view of the quality of attractions from the past is based largely on only those that withstood the test of the time.

 

[gerarar]

 

[UNCgolf]

I'm trying to think what "era" of Disney had all these show-stopping attractions in consecutive order that you all seem to remember so fondly. Those attractions you listed are all good attractions to me except for TBA. And that's not even mentioning other attractions made in that time that I think are awesome.

And I get everything is subjective and so it's fine we disagree. But what era at WDW do you think was better? And what attractions were there?

For me it's definitely the early-mid 90s, when 20K, Great Movie Ride, and the original EPCOT attraction lineup were all still there. Every single ride at EPCOT now is worse than what existed originally (except maybe Soarin', although it replaced a show, not a ride).

That's not to say all of those EPCOT attractions could have continued on to the present day without updates/changes (Universe of Energy and Horizons especially), but they were better at the time than the current attractions are at this time.

Animal Kingdom was missing entirely, and that's a fantastic park, but Magic Kingdom/EPCOT/DHS were all better parks then than they are now to me (although that's not solely about attraction lineups, especially re: DHS -- DHS has a stronger attraction lineup now even with the loss of Great Movie Ride).

 

[celluloid]

From 1986 to 1998, just over ten years you had..
The Living Seas
Captain Eo
Maelstrom,
Wonders of Live Pavilion with Body Wars and Cranium Command
Disney-MGM Studios
Splash Mountain
Muppet Vision 3D
Tower of Terror
Honey I Shrunk The Kids
Alien Encounter
1994 Tomorrowlnland refurbs, Carousel of Progress retheme, Buzz and lande enhancements
Test Track
RocknRoller Coaster.
Animal Kingdom

This is is not including the many great had their time and smaller attractions like Goofy's Barnatormer, Timekeeper, innovations etc



One will notice most of these treats are still around, still well known, feature the bones that their replacements use or as seen as superior to their predecessors, including some empty voids.

 

[JackCH]

For me it's definitely the early-mid 90s, when 20K, Great Movie Ride, and the original EPCOT attraction lineup were all still there. Every single ride at EPCOT now is worse than what existed originally (except maybe Soarin', although it replaced a show, not a ride).

That's not to say all of those EPCOT attractions could have continued on to the present day without updates/changes (Universe of Energy and Horizons especially), but they were better at the time.

Animal Kingdom was missing, and that's a fantastic park, but Magic Kingdom/EPCOT/DHS were all better parks then than they are now to me (although that's not solely about attraction lineups, especially re: DHS).

Yeah... I'd take DHS with Star Wars over what the park was for most of its existence, which to me always felt empty and lacking. Epcot I can understand, though my only memories of Epcot are from the early 2000's, and I would definitely take today's Epcot over that one. Cosmic Rewind, even though its in the wrong place, is a must-do for me. While Ellen's Energy was a must-skip lol.

But I understand people preferring "old WDW" to today, there was more charm and consistency in theming, each park was more distinctive, and the economics of LL and merchandise have definitely brought negative side-effects. What I don't agree with is that what WDI has produced in the last decade has been "worse quality." There have been some world-class attractions that I feel like get nit-picked to death, while "classic" attractions get a lot of excuses made for them (I believe because of nostalgia more than reality).

 

[UNCgolf]

Yeah... I'd take DHS with Star Wars over what the park was for most of its existence, which to me always felt empty and lacking. Epcot I can understand, though my only memories of Epcot are from the early 2000's, and I would definitely take today's Epcot over that one. Cosmic Rewind, even though its in the wrong place, is a must-do for me. While Ellen's Energy was a must-skip lol.

But I understand people preferring "old WDW" to today, there was more charm and consistency in theming, each park was more distinctive, and the economics of LL and merchandise have definitely brought negative side-effects. What I don't agree with is that what WDI has produced in the last decade has been "worse quality." There have been some world-class attractions that I feel like get nit-picked to death, while "classic" attractions get a lot of excuses made for them (I believe because of nostalgia more than reality).

Galaxy's Edge is good (albeit a little disappointing compared to what it could have been -- Smuggler's Run especially is a huge misfire IMO), but most of the rest of the park has lost the theming/character that made it interesting (which is why it still feels empty/lacking in many areas). There was more to occupy your time in the 1990s than there is now, outside of Galaxy's Edge. The shopping alone could suck up a decent amount of time back then because the shops were heavily themed and sold a lot of unique stuff.

 

[celluloid]

Yeah... I'd take DHS with Star Wars over what the park was for most of its existence, which to me always felt empty and lacking. Epcot I can understand, though my only memories of Epcot are from the early 2000's, and I would definitely take today's Epcot over that one. Cosmic Rewind, even though its in the wrong place, is a must-do for me. While Ellen's Energy was a must-skip lol.

But I understand people preferring "old WDW" to today, there was more charm and consistency in theming, each park was more distinctive, and the economics of LL and merchandise have definitely brought negative side-effects. What I don't agree with is that what WDI has produced in the last decade has been "worse quality." There have been some world-class attractions that I feel like get nit-picked to death, while "classic" attractions get a lot of excuses made for them (I believe because of nostalgia more than reality).

WDI does produce great things still, there are just near decade gaps between now.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Galaxy's Edge is good (albeit a little disappointing compared to what it could have been), but most of the rest of the park has lost the theming/character that made it interesting (which is why it still feels empty/lacking in many areas). There was more to occupy your time in the 1990s than there is now, outside of Galaxy's Edge. The shopping alone could suck up a decent amount of time back then because the shops were heavily themed and sold a lot of unique stuff.

This was true of Magic Kingdom as well, which had stores like The King's Gallery, House of Magic, Old World Antiques, plus smaller diversions like Main Street Cinema (when it was a Cinema).

The homogenizing of WDW didn't just dilute individual park themes, it made many stores and restaurants bland too.

 

[JackCH]

From 1986 to 1998, just over ten years you had..
The Living Seas
Maelstrom,
Wonders of Live Pavilion with Body Wars and Cranium Command
Disney-MGM Studios
Splash Mountain
Muppet Vision 3D
Tower of Terror
Alien Encounter
1994 Tomorrowlnland refurbs, Carousel of Progress retheme, Buzz and lande enhancements
Test Track
RocknRoller Coaster.
Animal Kingdom


One will notice most.of.tjese treats are still around, still well known, feature the bones that their replacements use or as seen as superior to their predecessors, including some empty voids.

Fair. That's pretty great. Especially 2 new parks. That was probably the most aggressive years of building, yeah?

Part of it is I just have a different opinion than most here seem to about DHS, which I feel has always been a deeply flawed park.

But, 2012-2024:
New Fantasyland and SDMT
Pandora and FoP
Star Wars and RoTR
Toy Story Land
MMRR
Rat
Cosmic Rewind
Tron
Not to mention some rethemes and new shows.

That's not bad, especially when the economics of it make building another park less realistic.

And I get a lot of it is difference in taste, but from purely an attractions standpoint, I would take 2012-2024 over 1986-1998, and certainly 2017-2029 if everything announced at D23 happens.

 

[James Alucobond]

WDI does produce great things still, there are just near decade gaps between now.

There definitely are not, especially if you consider that their output is spread across six resorts and multiple cruise ships, but that's not even true if you take WDW alone.

 

[celluloid]

There definitely are not, especially if you consider that their output is spread across six resorts and multiple cruise ships, but that's not even true if you take WDW alone.

It is for me and many others. Art is subjective though.

 

[Architectural Guinea Pig]

The Living Seas
Maelstrom,
Wonders of Live Pavilion with Body Wars and Cranium Command
Disney-MGM Studios
Splash Mountain
Muppet Vision 3D
Tower of Terror
Alien Encounter
1994 Tomorrowlnland refurbs, Carousel of Progress retheme, Buzz and lande enhancements
Test Track
RocknRoller Coaster.
Animal Kingdom

Many in your list were considered failures at their time, any more than half of these would definitely be big flops in the eyes of modern Disney fans. Compare it to the decade that @JackCH mentioned above, it’s pretty ridiculous to think that all the rides were show stoppers.

Oh- and WDI isn’t just WDW. That same decade gave us Radiator Springs Racers, the entire Shanghai Disneyland, Fantasy Springs to name a few. WDI isn’t failing; it’s the fans that are failing WDI.

 

[celluloid]

Fair. That's pretty great. Especially 2 new parks. That was probably the most aggressive years of building, yeah?

Part of it is I just have a different opinion than most here seem to about DHS, which I feel has always been a deeply flawed park.

But, 2012-2024:
New Fantasyland and SDMT
Pandora and FoP
Star Wars and RoTR
Toy Story Land
MMRR
Rat
Cosmic Rewind
Tron
Not to mention some rethemes and new shows.

This does not include all the closures and voids.
Nothing replacing many of the areas.
You list the lands and E ticket attractions. Hard to separate those. Toy Story' main appeal dark ride was actually from 2008. But that aside...



And I would say 1972 to 1982 was just asuggestive and still better to 2012 to 2020.

MK had many minor builds and then Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Frontierland expansion by 1982.
EPCOT, an entire park also opened.

So again, many showstoppers.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Yes, Disney theme parks today look great if we ignore decades of history and precedence along with exponential price increases and just write off all of that as nostalgia and a matter of taste.

 

[James Alucobond]

It is for me and many others. Art is subjective though.

It's silly to pretend that there are no objective measures of quality that one can take into account. Sure, a ride might not come together artistically or suit your personal tastes. That doesn't mean there are 10-year+ gaps between significant, impactful WDI projects, as you originally implied. It just means they're producing fewer things that interest you.

 

[celluloid]

Oh- and WDI isn’t just WDW. That same decade gave us Radiator Springs Racers, the entire Shanghai Disneyland, Fantasy Springs to name a few. WDI isn’t failing; it’s the fans that are failing WDI.

Never said they were all show stoppers, but there is a reason many are still around and have yet to be replaced by anything superior.

And let's not get into blaming the public.

 

[celluloid]

It's silly to pretend that there are no objective measures of quality that one can take into account. Sure, a ride might not come together artistically or suit your personal tastes. That doesn't mean there are 10-year+ gaps between significant, impactful WDI projects, as you originally implied. It just means they're producing fewer things that interest you.

Yes, let us do objective then.

With a straight face you can't say MMRR and Toy Story Land are on the level of Sunset Blvd.

So what did the decade before Galaxy's Edge bring to Hollywood Studios.

 

[JackCH]

This does not include all the closures and voids.
Nothing replacing many of the areas.
You list the lands and E ticket attractions. Hard to separate those. Toy Story' main appeal dark ride was actually from 2008. But that aside...



And I would say 1972 to 1982 was just asuggestive and still better to 2012 to 2020.

MK had many minor builds and then Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Frontierland expansion by 1982.
EPCOT, an entire park also opened.

So again, many showstoppers.

Well sure but I could point out similar things with the flaws of DHS and AK when they first opened, which were many.

Sure, many showstoppers, but not exponentially more than the last decade. In fact, I'd still argue less. You just prefer those ones to the new ones. Which is fine.

 

[celluloid]

Well sure but I could point out similar things with the flaws of DHS and AK when they first opened, which were many.

Sure, many showstoppers, but not exponentially more than the last decade. In fact, I'd still argue less. You just prefer those ones to the new ones. Which is fine.

Many flawed but most still around pleasing. And entire parks of success.
Define your term "showstopper."

There is a reason it was known as The Disney Decade.